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DOE OSTI2022

Measurement of the nuclear modification factor for muons from charm and bottom hadrons in Pb+Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Heavy-flavour hadron production provides information about the transport properties and microscopic structure of the quark–gluon plasma created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. A measurement of the muons from semileptonic decays of charm and bottom hadrons produced in Pb+Pb and pp collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. The Pb+Pb data were collected in 2015 and 2018 with sampled integrated luminosities of 208 μb –1 and 38 μb –1 , respectively, and pp data with a sampled integrated luminosity of 1.17 pb –1 were collected in 2017. Muons from heavy-flavour semileptonic decays are separated from the light-flavour hadronic background using the momentum imbalance between the inner detector and muon spectrometer measurements, and muons originating from charm and bottom decays are further separated via the muon track's transverse impact parameter. Differential yields in Pb+Pb collisions and differential cross sections in pp collisions for such muons are measured as a function of muon transverse momentum from 4 GeV to 30 GeV in the absolute pseudorapidity interval |n| < 2. Nuclear modification factors for charm and bottom muons are presented as a function of muon transverse momentum in intervals of Pb+Pb collision centrality. The bottom muon results are the most precise measurement of b quark nuclear modification at low transverse momentum where reconstruction of B hadrons is challenging. The measured nuclear modification factors quantify a significant suppression of the yields of muons from decays of charm and bottom hadrons, with stronger effects for muons from charm hadron decays.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2021

First Muon Neutrino on Argon Cross Section Measurements With an Off-Axis Beam

While over ninety years have passed since neutrinos were first predicted in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli, much about them is still unknown [20]. How many types of neutrinos there are, how precisely neutrinos change flavor, and how neutrinos interact with various types of matter are largely unanswered questions that have implications for fields beyond particle physics, such as cosmology and astrophysics. The final question can be answered partially by differential cross section measurements, two of which constitute the primary result of this thesis. The NeUtrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) Beam at Fermilab in Batavia, IL provides a source of muon neutrinos and muon antineutrinos to the MicroBooNE experiment, an 85 ton liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC). The technology allows for high precision particle tracking and energy reconstruction that can be used to make cross section measurements. Necessary work for making these measurements for which the author of this thesis made an essential contribution is presented in detail in References [21] [22] [11] [23]. The measurement presented in this thesis is made with 2.187e20 Protons on Target (POT), the standard metric for an amount of beam exposure, of data when the beam was in forward horn current mode. Single-differential cross section measurements in terms of muon candidate kinetic energy and direction are made, and their statistical fits with simulation are 5.8 (12 d.o.f.) and 11.4 (10 d.o.f.), respectively. This indicates that the muon kinematics for muon neutrino and muon antineutrino charged-current (CC) events primarily in the energy range [0-3] GeV can be trusted for oscillation experiments, including DUNE, because of the agreement to within the associated systematic and statistical uncertainties between the measurement and the model in every bin of both single-differential cross sections. This result adds to the corresponding result for the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) because it covers a completely different energy region than that measurement, a double-differential cross section in terms of muon momentum and direction [14]. This result contributes to reducing the uncertainty in near-far event rate comparisons in long baseline neutrino experiments and also adds to existing knowledge of the neutrino-nucleus interaction by describing the outgoing muon kinematics in interactions of muon neutrinos and muon antineutrinos. This result is the first-ever measurement of differential cross sections of muon neutrinos and muon antineutrinos in liquid argon made with an off-axis beam.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Modern Muon Physics: Selected Issues

The muon was discovered almost hundred years ago, but still remains largely a mystery. For a long time, the only difference between a muon and an electron was the approximately 200 times greater mass of the muon. However, with the later discovery of the charm quantum number, the muon played a decisive role in the formulation of the Standard Model of elementary particles, determining together with muon neutrino and the strange s and the charm c quarks the second generation of particles of this model. The equality of the reaction constant of muon decay with the constant of the vector interaction of beta-decay played a decisive role in the formulation of the conservation of the vector current (CVC) of the weak interaction of elementary particles. Processes involving muons testified in favor of the partial conservation of the axial current of weak interaction (PCAC), that is, one pion exchange in the interaction of the lepton and hadron currents. It was the muon that gave a rise to hopes of creating an alternative energy source within the framework of Muon Catalyzed Fusion (μCF). The possible realization of this process in the future as the intensity of muon beams increases can revolutionired energy supply. Nuclear fission by muons and the study of heavy-nucleus mesoatoms introduced muon physics into several separate branches of physical research.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Muon Accelerator Program Simulation Fellow

Muons are fundamental particles like electrons but much more massive. Muon accelerators can provide physics opportunities similar to those of electron accelerators, but because of the larger mass muons lose less energy to radiation, allowing more compact facilities with lower operating costs. The way muon beams are produced makes them too large to fit into the vacuum chamber of a cost-effective accelerator, and the short muon lifetime means that the beams must be reduced in size rather quickly, without losing too many of the muons. This reduction in size is called "cooling." Ionization cooling is a new technique that can accomplish such cooling. Intense muon beams can then be accelerated and injected into a storage ring, where they can be used to produce neutrino beams through their decays or collided with muons of the opposite charge to produce a muon collider, similar to an electron-positron collider. We report on the research carried out at the University of California, Riverside, towards producing such muon accelerators, as part of the Muon Accelerator Program based at Fermilab. Since this research was carried out in a university environment, we were able to involve both undergraduate and graduate students.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Design Concepts for Muon-Based Accelerators

Muon-based accelerators have the potential to enable facilities at both the Intensity and the Energy Frontiers. Muon storage rings can serve as high precision neutrino sources, and a muon collider is an ideal technology for a TeV or multi-TeV collider. Progress in muon accelerator designs has advanced steadily in recent years. In regard to 6D muon cooling, detailed and realistic designs now exist that provide more than 5 order-of-magnitude emittance reduction. Furthermore, detector performance studies indicate that with suitable pixelation and timing resolution, backgrounds in the collider detectors can be significantly reduced, thus enabling high-quality physics results. Thanks to these and other advances in design & simulation of muon systems, technology development, and systems demonstrations, muon storage-ring-based neutrino sources and a muon collider appear more feasible than ever before. A muon collider is now arguably among the most compelling approaches to a multi-TeV lepton collider. This paper summarizes the current status of design concepts for muon-based accelerators for neutrino factories and a muon collider.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Design Concepts for Muon-Based Accelerators

Muon-based accelerators have the potential to enable facilities at both the Intensity and the Energy Frontiers. Muon storage rings can serve as high precision neutrino sources, and a muon collider is an ideal technology for a TeV or multi-TeV collider. Progress in muon accelerator designs has advanced steadily in recent years. In regard to 6D muon cooling, detailed and realistic designs now exist that provide more than 5 order-of-magnitude emittance reduction. Furthermore, detector performance studies indicate that with suitable pixelation and timing resolution, backgrounds in the collider detectors can be significantly reduced thus enabling high quality physics results. Thanks to these and other advances in design & simulation of muon systems, technology development, and systems demonstrations, muon storage-ring-based neutrino sources and a muon collider appear more feasible than ever before. A muon collider is now arguably among the most compelling approaches to a multi-TeV lepton collider. This paper summarizes the current status of design concepts for muon-based accelerators for neutrino factories and a muon collider.

Bogacz, Slawomir↗

DOE OSTI2024

Interim report for the International Muon Collider Collaboration (IMCC)

The International Muon Collider Collaboration (IMCC) [1] was established in 2020 following the recommendations of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP) and the implementation of the European Strategy for Particle Physics-Accelerator R&D Roadmap by the Laboratory Directors Group [2], hereinafter referred to as the the European LDG roadmap. The Muon Collider Study (MuC) covers the accelerator complex, detectors and physics for a future muon collider. In 2023, European Commission support was obtained for a design study of a muon collider (MuCol) [3]. This project started on 1st March 2023, with work-packages aligned with the overall muon collider studies. In preparation of and during the 2021-22 U.S. Snowmass process, the muon collider project parameters, technical studies and physics performance studies were performed and presented in great detail. Recently, the P5 panel [4] in the U.S. recommended a muon collider R&D, proposed to join the IMCC and envisages that the U.S. should prepare to host a muon collider, calling this their "muon shot". In the past, the U.S. Muon Accelerator Programme (MAP) [5] has been instrumental in studies of concepts and technologies for a muon collider.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Interim report for the International Muon Collider Collaboration (IMCC)

Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph)↗

DOE OSTI2022

Muon Campus at Fermilab

The Muon Campus at Fermilab provides world class accelerator infrastructure supporting the next generation intensity frontier experiments. The anti-proton source from the Tevatron era was converted to the present day Muon Campus at the end of the collider program in 2011. Currently, the Muon Campus delivers highly polarized muon beams to the Muon g-2 experiment and in a few years, it will provide muon beams to the Mu2e experiment. The Muon g-2 experiment is a high precision test of the standard model; it is precise enough to measure QED, Weak, and QCD Standard Model contributions.The Muon g-2 experiment looks for a significant deviation from the Standard Model whereas the Mu2e experiment looks for rare processes using high intensity muon beams. The Muon g-2 experiment has measured the anomalous magnetic moment of muons to an unprecedented 460 ppb precision with Run 1 data. The experiment has completed 5 runs, accumulating 19$\times$ Brookhaven E821 data set. The Mu2e experiment has completed the construction phase and first beam to the Diagnostic Absorber was run on April 14, 2022. Installation and commissioning of the Mu2e experiment will begin in 2023 and beam commissioning and physics run is currently planned for 2026.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Muon background studies for shallow depth Double - Chooz near detector

Muon events are one of the main concerns regarding background in neutrino experiments. The placement of experimental set-ups in deep underground facilities reduce considerably their impact on the research of the expected signals. But in the cases where the detector is installed on surface or at shallow depth, muon flux remains high, being necessary their precise identification for further rejection. Total flux, mean energy or angular distributions are some of the parameters that can help to characterize the muons. Empirically, the muon rate can be measured in an experiment by a number of methods. Nevertheless, the capability to determine the muons angular distribution strongly depends on the detector features, while the measurement of the muon energy is quite difficult. Also considering that on-site measurements can not be extrapolated to other sites due to the difference on the overburden and its profile, it is necessary to find an adequate solution to perform the muon characterization. The method described in this work to obtain the main features of the muons reaching the experimental set-up, is based on the muon transport simulation by the MUSIC software, combined with a dedicated sampling algorithm for shallow depth installations based on a modified Gaisser parametrization. This method provides all the required information about the muons for any shallow depth installation if the corresponding overburden profile is implemented. In this work, the method has been applied for the recently commissioned Double - Chooz near detector, which will allow the cross-check between the simulation and the experimental data, as it has been done for the far detector.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of directional muon beams generated at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator

We present the detection of directional muon beams produced using a PW laser facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The muon source is a multi-GeV electron beam generated in a laser-plasma accelerator interacting with a high- converter target. The GeV photons resulting from the interaction are converted into a high-flux, directional muon beam via pair production. By employing scintillators to capture delayed events, we were able to identify the produced muons and characterize the source. Using theoretical knowledge of the muon production process combined with simulations that are in excellent agreement with the experiments, we demonstrate that laser-plasma accelerators have the capability of generating electron beams with characteristics suitable to produce GeV-scale muons that offer unique advantages with respect to the cosmic background. Laser-plasma-accelerator-based muon sources can therefore enhance muon imaging applications thanks to their compactness, directionality, and high yields, which reduce the exposure time by orders of magnitude compared to cosmic ray muons. Using the eant4-based simulation code we developed to gain insight into the experimental results, we can design future experiments and applications based on LPA-generated muons.

Terzani, Davide↗

DOE OSTI2020

Toward the Frontiers of Particle Physics With the Muon $g\textrm{-}2$ Experiment

The Muon $g\textrm{-}2$ Experiment (E989) at Fermilab has a goal of measuring the muon anomaly ($a_\mu$) with unprecedented precision using positive muons. This measurement is motivated by the difference between the previous Brookhaven $a_\mu$ measurement and Standard Model prediction exceeding three standard deviations, which hints at the possibility of physics beyond the Standard Model. Muons are circulated in a storage ring, and the measurement requires a precise determination of the muon anomalous precession frequency (spin precession relative to momentum) from the resulting decay positron time and energy measurements collected with calorimeters. The average magnetic field seen by the muons needs to be known with high precision, and so the storage ring magnetic field is shimmed to be very uniform and is continually monitored with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probes. Detailed Muon Campus beamline and muon storage ring simulations are also required for quantifying beam dynamics and spin-related systematic effects in the determination of the muon anomalous precession frequency, e.g. muon losses during the measurement window. At the time of the conference, the experiment has recently commenced Run-3, and the release of Run-1 physics results is planned for 2020.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Muon spin force

Current discrepancy between the measurement and the prediction of the muon anomalous magnetic moment can be resolved in the presence of a long-range force created by ordinary atoms acting on the muon spin via axial-vector and/or pseudoscalar coupling, and requiring a tiny O⁡(10 –13 eV) spin energy splitting between muon state polarized in the vertical direction. We suggest that an extension of the muon spin resonance (μ⁢SR) experiments can provide a definitive test of this class of models. We also derive indirect constraints on the strength of the muon spin force by considering the muon-loop-induced interactions between nuclear spin and external directions. The limits on the muon spin force extracted from the comparison of 199 Hg/ 201 Hg and 129 Xe/ 131 Xe spin precession are strong for the pseudoscalar coupling but are significantly relaxed for the axial-vector one. These limits suffer from significant model uncertainties, poorly known proton/neutron spin content of these nuclei, and therefore do not exclude the possibility of a muon spin force relevant for the muon g – 2.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Magnets for Muon 6D Cooling Channels

The Helical Cooling Channel (HCC), an innovative technique for six-dimensional (6D) cooling of muon beams using a continuous absorber inside superconducting magnets, has shown considerable promise based on analytic and simulation studies. The implementation of this revolutionary method of muon cooling requires high field superconducting magnets that provide superimposed solenoid, helical dipole, and helical quadrupole fields. Novel magnet design concepts are required to provide HCC magnet systems with the desired fields for 6D muon beam cooling. New designs feature simple coil configurations that produce these complex fields with the required characteristics, where new high field conductor materials are particularly advantageous. The object of the program was to develop designs and construction methods for HCC magnets and design a magnet system for a 6D muon beam cooling channel. If successful the program would develop the magnet technologies needed to create bright muon beams for many applications ranging from scientific accelerators and storage rings to beams to study material properties and new sources of energy. Examples of these applications include energy frontier muon colliders, Higgs and neutrino factories, stopping muon beams for studies of rare fundamental interactions and muon catalyzed fusion, and muon sources for cargo screening for homeland security.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2018

Cosmic Ray Muons of High and Ultrahigh Energies

Muons are the main component of cosmic rays on the Earth’s surface and underground. The energy spectrum and angular distribution of muons in the atmosphere are related both to the mechanisms of their generation and to the basic characteristics of the primary cosmic rays—their energy spectrum and mass composition. Changes in the muon flux underground are determined by muon energy losses, and its measurements allow muon interaction processes to be studied. The history of extensive cosmic-ray muon investigations covers many decades. A retrospective overview of important directions of cosmic ray muon studies is presented, and analysis of the main experiments and results is given. Special attention is paid to the “muon puzzle”, that is, the muon excess increasing with the energy of primary particles, and to possible ways of solving it.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Simulations of muon imaging with the LANL GMT detector for spent nuclear fuel cask content verification

Atmospheric muons are typically high energy, highly penetrating charged particles. They interact with matter primarily through multiple Coulomb scatterings. Muon scattering intensities can be used to characterize the density and atomic number of the matter that they pass through. Previously, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) muon tomography team performed muon imaging of the partially filled MC-10 spent nuclear fuel (SNF) cask at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This experiment demonstrated the feasibility of muon imaging for the verification of spent fuel container contents. That original effort used the mini muon tracker array, consisting of two arrays of drift tubes on either side of the SNF cask. The reconstructed image quality was limited by statistics, largely due to low muon flux at high zenith angles. A LANL led team will perform new measurements with a larger array, the Giant Muon Tracker (GMT), to improve data collection rates and statistics. In this work, simulations were performed with the GMT near the partially filled INL MC-10 cask. For more general fuel diversion detection, a full MC-10 cask and casks with a singular missing fuel bundle were also simulated. To understand minimum measurement times needed for missing bundle identification, 100 000 to millions of tracked muons (corresponding to 1.4 days to several weeks measurement time) were analyzed. Simulated images were then analyzed visually and numerically to explore techniques designed to minimize the collection time needed to identify the diversion of fuel in each scenario.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

NASA NTRS1971

The stopping rate of negative cosmic-ray muons near sea level

A production rate of 0.065 + or - 0.003 Ar-37 atom/kg min of K-39 at 2-mwe depth below sea level was measured by sweeping argon from potassium solutions. This rate is unaffected by surrounding the solution by paraffin and is attributed to negative muon captures and the electromagnetic interaction of fast muons, and not to nucleonic cosmic ray component. The Ar-37 yield from K-39 by the stopping of negative muons in a muon beam of a synchrocyclotron was measured to be 8.5 + or - 1.7%. The stopping rate of negative cosmic ray muons at 2-mwe depth below sea level from these measurements and an estimated 17% electromagnetic production is 0.63 + or - 0.13 muon(-)/kg min. Previous measurements on the muon stopping rate vary by a factor of 5. Our value is slightly higher but is consistent with two previous high values. The sensitivity of the Ar-37 radiochemical method for the detection of muons is considerably higher than that of the previous radiochemical methods and could be used to measure the negative muon capture rates at greater depths.

Spannagel, G.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Realization of a high luminosity muon beam at the Jefferson Lab

The proton is the major component of the visible matter of our universe, so being able to determine its fundamental properties, such as its charge radius, is of vital importance. In recent years, several experiments have been performed for the accurate measurement of the proton radius with different experimental techniques. The main and most common are based on two different techniques: ep scattering and Lamb shift spectroscopy of regular hydrogen atoms. The latter can also be performed on muonic hydrogen atoms with a significant improvement in accuracy. Recent measurements that use this method have highlighted a discrepancy between the results obtained with the diffusion of electrons and those obtained with the spectroscopic technique leading to the so-called ?proton radius puzzle?. The explanation of why this difference between the measured values exists is still a matter of discussion. The last attempt to address the puzzle was the PRad Experiment. It was performed with a unique experimental setup that gave the scientists an excellent control on the systematic errors that are usually present in electron-proton scattering experiments. This has significantly increased the precision of the measurement, bringing it in the same area as the spectroscopic ones done on muonic hydrogen atoms, which are considered the most precise. However, to solve the puzzle once and for all, even more precise electron scattering measurements are needed. Alternatively, new methods can be used, such as eg. muon-proton scattering at low transferred momenta in order to lower the systematic errors that comes with the measurement. This thesis tries to address this problem by studying the set up of an intense muon beam at the Jefferson Laboratory (JLab) that can be used to carry out a high-precision m ? p scattering experiment. Using Montecarlo simulations I studied the muon production resulting from the interaction of the primary electron beam with the beam-dump at JLab Hall-A. The simulations were performed using the FLUKA package via the FLAIR graphical interface. In this study, I modified an existing geometry (built for the ?Beam Dump eXperiment?) and performed several studies in order to optimize the muon beam parameters. In order to estimate the beam intensity, I studied the muon generation and transportation through the concrete bunker surrounding the Hall-A beam-dump. Detailed studies on muon attenuation and dispersion at different depth allowed me to track the beam profile in space and momentum as a function of the distance from the beam-dump. Last, but not least, I studied a possible tagging system for the muon beam. The tagging system will allow us to know with good precision (O(1=1000)) the energy of each muon of the beam. Based on the results obtained, I created an event generator that incorporates the detailed description of the muon beam (energy, position, emittance) useful to define and optimize the experimental setup for a future measurement of the proton radius at the JLab.

Fulci, Antonino↗